What’s Coming Today (1/21)  Marketing Presentation and Discussion –Groups and Patents Announced –Market Research Background –Assignment #2- Preliminary Market Research for your IP  In Class Work Session –Groups meet to discuss preliminary ideas, roles, and market research –Market research with team for presentation and written report due Monday

What’s Coming?  Mon (1/26) –Presentation & discussion of market research results by each team (40’) –In class work session on market definition (40’) –Short lecture on commercialization options (30’)  Wed (1/28) In class work session with mentors –Discuss your technology –Review market results –Investigate different commercialization options

Patents and Teams Fuel Cells Sean Kirkpatrick Alex Thomsen Jennifer Villalobos Jordan Plemmons Adam Gulledge Non-Contact Capacitance Cory Donahue Joseph Imatani Brian Maloney Andrea McHugh Nicholas Papke Joint Laxity Alison Grice Stuart Hodgson Olof Roos Nicholas Shaffer Nicholas Lampert Citrus Based Insecticide Griffin Caldwell Tyler Gerding Keely Heinz David Mandrell Brett Hartner Viewership Tracking Carl Hickerson Jim Holladay Andrew Pearson Jason Sperr

Team and Patent Assignment- Appeal Process  Everyone received one of their top three choices  Teams and patent assignments were made attempting to balance the skills of individual team members as much as possible  If you are not satisfied with your team or assignment, you can appeal one of three ways –find someone on another team who wants to switch –if all team members agree, you can select another patent from the OSU portfolio (with TTO approval) –come see John, or send him an

Commercialization Plan Development CUSTOMER - needs and motivation ENVIRONMENT- competition and substitutes TECHNOLOGY & PRODUCT- capability and needed resources Focus will be here today Based on what you learn be prepared to change your product ideas!

Customer vs Consumer  Not always the same- in many cases, the distinction is important –Consumer: The user of goods or services  Are their needs met in a better way by your product? –Customer: The individual or organization with decision authority to approve the purchase  Will they pay for your product?

Satisfying the Consumer and Customer  Identify your consumer needs. What is the relative importance of…  Convenience & ease of use  Cost  Performance  Maintenance  Ease of transition  Style or brand loyalty  What is the fundamental “dissatisfier” or unmet need that you have addressed, and have you compromised other attributes?

When the customer is not the consumer  This is often the case! - Parents purchasing a car for their son - Distributor making purchasing decisions for a new energy drink (it’s all about shelf space) - A doctor making choices about use of a new drug or diagnostic method (why would I change?) - Consumer- “do we have a product?” - Customer- “can we sell our product?” - Customer may have different motivations than the consumer- “hot buttons ”

Team Exercise #1  Meet with your team now (25’) –Specify the problem solved- EXACTLY what is the “dissatisfier” or unmet need for one form of your product or service? Be as specific as possible –Clarify the consumer and customer. Are they the same? Describe them in detail –Speculate on their motivations  What attributes would they consider as users/buyers?  Which attributes are most important?  Where do you need more information? How will you get it?

Competitors and Substitutes  Competitor- offers an alternative product or service with the same or similar function  Substitute- another way for consumer to satisfy a specific need  A good marketing plan will understand and address (not avoid) customer/consumer acceptance of these alternatives

Competitors and Substitutes MBA IBP Example- “Integrated Pole Solutions” Testing telephone poles with proprietary OSU technology –Competitors: German acoustic technology, thump and listen, dig and examine, etc –Substitutes: Replace all telephone poles once every 10 years, repair on failure

Consumer/Customer Choices- general advice  Avoid “technology infatuation”  Seek information from multiple sources –Written (e.g. Mintel) –Real customers –Phrase questions as tradeoffs, not “yes/no” questions –Focus on consumer experience –Listen for alternative embodiments

Team Exercise #2  Meet with your team now (15’). For your initial –Identify competitors and substitutes- EXACTLY what alternatives do your consumers and customers have? Be as specific as possible. –Why would they choose your product/service instead? Describe the tradeoffs they would make in detail by choosing your product and why you believe this. –What additional information do you need to determine if this is a viable approach?  Are there potential customers or consumers can you talk with about their general preferences?  Where do you need more information? How will you get it?

Assignment #2- Preliminary Market Study  Before next class (Monday) each team should complete a “first pass” market study for at least one product/service based on of their technology –Submit an ~3-5 page written report (due 11:59 pm Saturday, 1/24)- is preferred –Prepare an ~6-8 min presentation for the class –This is a graded assignment: presentation and report will comprise 6% of your grade

Preliminary Market Study- Some Elements to Include  Describe the basic technology  Identify Customer/consumer for at least one product or service embodiment –Identify as specifically as possible- consumer or B2B, age, income, etc. –Identify their “hot buttons”- are they most sensitive to price, performance, safety, ease-of-use, etc?  Competitors/Substitutes- –Identify specific companies, replacement technologies –Substitutes and why your solution is better

Preliminary Market Study- Last, but not least!!  What if market survey shows no intersection for proposed product?  Don’t be afraid to backtrack…  Brainstorm other markets, forms of product or service offering.  Success of a venture does not depend on getting it right the first time, but adapting to new information and being flexible to new approaches!

Questions??? Concerns ???